1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to leverage hand tools, and more particularly to tools useful for tightening flexible endless drive belts operatively located in a restricted space, such as automobile air compressor and generator drive belts and fan belts.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A multitude of hand tools have been developed for gripping an object and applying leverage so as to transmit a torque or apply a bending moment for some specialized purpose. Such tools include everything from pliers to crow-bars of wrecking bars, and the particular configuration of the object to be gripped, the leverage requirements, and the space available for attaching the tool to the object and for applying the leverage are all considerations in the development and design of such tools.
For example, Himes U.S. Pat. No. 1,151,013 depicts a type of leverage tool used for stretching and tightening wire fences. The Himes stretching tool used for tightening wire fences includes a jaw which is mounted at the end of a lever, with the lever defining or including a plurality of holes which enable certain wire-engaging hooks to be mounted on the jaw at different points therealong.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,493,389 to Rosenfield describes a jar wrench adapted for the removal of lids from jars. The jar wrench includes a fixed jaw and a second jaw which is adjustable in its position by means of a handle, so as to adjust the gripping characteristics and the leverage applied.
3. Brief Description of the Present Invention
The present invention is a specialized hand tool useful for tightening endless drive belts which drive one or more powered devices, with the drive belt being located in a restricted space. The tool is especially well adapted for engaging a generator or other apparatus of the sort driven by a flexible drive belt used in an automobile, which belt is frequently used for simultaneously driving two or more of the fan, the air conditioning compressor and the water pump, with power being delivered via the belt from a pulley keyed to a power output shaft from the engine.
Broadly described, the belt tightening tool of the invention comprises a jaw element which has an elongated lever arm adjustably connected thereto between the ends of the jaw element. The jaw element includes a concave gripping face or mouth which terminates at one of its ends in a projecting lug-engaging toe or gripping element which, in a preferred embodiment, is provided with serrated teeth. The concave gripping face of the jaw is configured to accommodate the circular external peripheral surface of a generally cylindrical housing or body of a generator, water pump, or the like to enable the belt tightening tool to be effectively engaged with such body or housing so that leverage can be applied to the body by use of the lever arm. The lever arm is preferably connected to the jaw element through a bifurcated bracket carried at one end of the lever arm. Adjustment of the position of connection of the lever arm to the jaw element is attained by means of a series of holes and a pair of bolts which, when extended through selected registering holes, effectively adjusts the angle at which the lever arm extends to the jaw.
An important object of the present invention is to provide a useful tool which can be easily and effectively employed for tightening endless drive belts which are extended around sheaves or pulleys carried on the shafts of a plurality of driving and driven elements.
A further object of the invention is to provide a belt tightening tool which is specifically useful in tightening drive belts of the sort used in association with automobile internal combustion engines for driving the compressor of the air conditioning system, the generator, the water pump, the fan and other ancillary equipment which is customarily provided in conjunction with the engine.
A further object of the invention is to provide a belt tightening tool which can be used for manually tightening a drive belt used for driving an automobile generator without the requirement for the user of the tool to assume an awkward or uncomfortable position while effecting the tightening of the belt.
A further object is to provide a belt tightening tool which is simple in its construction and mechanically rugged and durable so as to have a long and trouble-free service life.